M.T.B 671 Crew Research Can you help ?

I have the first edition of (Sir) Peter Scott's amazing book The Battle of the Narrow Seas, published in 1945, in which he tells us of his boats, his lads and his 'adventures' from his base in Dover. What always amazed me was how they did not have a far worse casualty rate considering the frailty of the boats. The mere fact that a person survived to tell this tale is miraculous in itself. Brave man all.

 

Red Devil -what I do remember is my mother saying that my father, John, and many of the other MTB boys, felt that Scott was a rather self-aggrandizing person who traded off his late father's famous name. He wasn't universally loved by Coastal Forces sailors as they felt he enjoyed the limelight a bit too much.

 

That may be so, a lot of celebs do that, more so today but in his book he is full of praise for the men.

 

Apologies for being AWOL: moved to Chichester, West Sussex, and found myself computerless until now. Using a Vodafone Dongle, no less, and doing just as well as normal broadband. I will be in touch again with MikeL re pix, etc. but in the meantime discovered a detailed account of all aboard MTB 671 on RN Motor Torpedo Boats & Gun Boats [Archive] - World Naval Ships Forums, the main reference being from BrianHolmes2 dated 18 January 2011 at 17.51hrs.

Hope that might fill in some gaps - yes, there's at least one crew member buried in Bayeux, Izzy.

Will be going down the A27 to take pix of John Horley and Larry Toogood's graves fairly soon to put up on here courtesy of kind and knowledgeable members. I will see if there are others in Haslar and take also. I've just found some additional info on Larry. His widow Joan Ismay Toogood remarried, to John Inkson (1917-87) and they had a daughter, Cherry Helen, b. 1946 who I remember meeting when I was about seven and she five, and a son, Timothy Richard Inkson, b. 1949 in Wokingham. Joan is noted as having died in 1969. Cherry is noted as having two daughters having married Patrick Shane McGuire : Kirsty Jane, b. 1976 and Laura b. 1979. I would love to find out where Cherry is today!

With best wishes to all.

 

Nice to have you back with us Jon.

 

Phenomenal thread. Thanks to all who contributed. Several book titles I will now need to track down.
The small boat sailors fought continuously and never enjoyed the attention of the other branches. Surprising, as these actions have always been a source of fascination to me for the aggressiveness, daring, bravery and tactical skill displayed.

 

Jon when you go down to Haslar there are three more graves of the 671.THey are

A.B Cecil Rook grave E 65 1

A.B job Lambert grave E 65 2

S/Lt Patrick Lovell Smallwood grave G 10 20

There was also another casualty from another M.T.B that was killed in the same incident i have his details somewhere and i think he may also be buried at Haslar.There were 2 crew members buried in France J.D Goldsworthy and J Owen.

 

Really good to be back, thanks, MikeL! Struggled with a pal's Spanish laptop for a bit, then O2 (hopeless), and now zipping along as before, thank goodness. Missed this site a lot.

Izzy, thanks for that info. As soon as the, uh, "sunny" south stops having torrential rain, floods, and tornadoes, I'll be off with the pony and trap down to Haslar and take photos of those sites, and hopefully some kind and cleverer-than-me member will put them up for us. Thanks again.

 

Hello all. Stumbled across the site and thought I'd pitch in my little bit.
Job Lambert was my grandmother's brother. He is and always was known as Josey within the family. His hand was the only identifiable remains returned to the family as he wore a signet ring which you can just make out in his picture. It was this hand which was buried at Haslar.

Not much info, but when we were kids he was our very own folklore hero.

 

Another casualty of the raid was A.B Stanley Roebuck killed on M.T.B 632.I Googled M.T.B 671 and on the websire April 1944 Coastal Forces Veterans there is a full account of the raid.

 

At last! Having rootled through a huge chest of photos going back to family in the 1920s, found a pic of the crew of MTB 671, posing proudly on her deck. I'm hoping that anyone on here with connections to them might be able to ID them from old family photos.

Also, two pics of what looks like an MTB but without - as far as I can see - a number on her. Might possibly be a training vessel, and the pix taken by my Dad. Some possible ID references in the background - lots of trees in foliage and some big houses along what looks like a river inlet.

I was hoping MikeL might've found my PM to him about putting up photos - Mother Ship calling MikeL, do you receive?? If he hasn't/can't, could anyone else kindly take charge of the snaps and manage to transfer their image to this topic, please?

I will send a return ssae to get them back to me, so I can take them along to the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth, once we've sighted them on here.

Any help most gratefully received, thanks. (I don't have a scanner or a printer, crusty old Luddite that I am, or I'd try to do it myself!)

 

I to have pictures of the boat and crew but do'nt have the equipment or inteligence to put them on the forum.I can identify a few of the crew. The pictures were sent to me a couple of years ago my late uncle pointed out G.H.Woodburn who was his cousin and childhood friend.

 

That's terrific, izzy. If we can call upon the very kind services of someone who has the nous and gear to put them up on here, that would be perfect.

 

It's gone awful quiet, Cap'n Izzy... maybe... too... quiet...

We'd be mighty grateful for some help, folks...

 

Jon asked me to post some photos for her so here they are:
First a picture of MTB 671 crew:



Jon's description is:
'Lawrence Toogood is 6 in from left and my Father John Horley is 7 in from left (or 6 in from right). Note the life belt with MTB 671 on it.
It might be that survivor Colin Morley is on the other side of Larry (all Ty/Lts)'

More to follow.

 

Next photo.



' A family photo taken at Huntingdon, Cambs in 1941.
Left, Peter Harry Horley, died 1963. Captured during Operation Market Garden, Arnhem.
2nd left, his Mother Evelyn Gertrude Horley, (who before her marriage worked for Fred Jane, founder of Jane's Fighting Ships etc.) Died 1980s.
3rd left, Cdr. Harry Herbert Horley (see references to HMS Hiniesta/MV Madiz) died 1950.
Right, John Horley (Ty/Lt on MTB 671, killed 24/4/44).

 

'The wedding of Lawrence Toogood to Joan (d. 1969).
Second left and right are the Bride's parents, left is the Bride's sister.
My Father John Horley is Best Man (3 left) and the Bride's nieces are bridesmaids.
Larry didn't have any children but his widow remarried a John Inkson and had a daughter called Cherry and a son, Timothy.
Larry was also Best Man at John's wedding but, sadly, I don't have any photos of that.

 

Mystery vessel and location!
Looks like on a river - maybe the Solent.

 

Original typed accounts of MTB 671's engagement (and other MTBs).



Jon - these accounts seem very similar to (maybe transcripts from) the Admiralty War Diary. Pictures and a CD will be in the post tomorrow!

Mike

 

Absolutely fantastic, Mike, to see these up here - thank you very, very much. I hope the crew picture might help anyone searching for family members lost on the boat, and that the pics of Larry and John help to humanise what are often just dry War Office stats of those killed. (Not that members of sites like this are unmindful of such.)

I've been on the phone to the British Medical Association this afternoon, trying to find out if they can help me to track down the family of Colin Morley, who practised as a GP in Eastbourne until his relatively early death in 1998. He left a widow, two sons and grandkids, so I'm hoping that I might find them and point them to here as part of their family history.

It would be lovely to find Cherry Inkson, who I met once as a small child, as she's had kids and although Larry Toogood was not her father, he was her late mother's first husband and there is still that family link.

As I don't have anyone to pass the photos on to, I'll see if the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth would like them. Mum and I had some other MTB memorabilia which we passed to them some years ago and it'd be nice to know the photos could go safely into their archives.

Again, Mike, thanks a million for a terrific job.